Do you know why there were no playgrounds in the first Minneapolis parks?
Because the concept of a playground did not exist in 1883, when Horace Cleveland designed the first parks for the newly established Park Board. Parks were quiet . . . — — Map (db m176877) HM
In July 1931, Arthur and Edith Lee and their 5-year-old daughter Mary, an African-American family, moved into this home at 4600 Columbus Avenue South which they had purchased that spring. Immediately, their white neighbors mobilized to drive them . . . — — Map (db m205392) HM
Because of the rapid growth of population, agriculture, and industry in the Upper Midwest after 1900, Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers to construct the Mississippi River locks and dams. The Mississippi River, once the principal artery of . . . — — Map (db m232537) HM
Transportation & Industry
The streetcar system began in 1875. Where tracks were laid, people built homes and businesses. Each night they patiently waited at the corners where every hour they could ride the trolley for work or pleasure. The . . . — — Map (db m232205) HM
Northeast Homes Have Distinct Differences
Northeast Minneapolis housing is distinctly different from that in other parts of the city. The upper-middle class and business owners built the older houses in much of Minneapolis. But in old St. . . . — — Map (db m232206) HM
This site was originally used as a quarry in the early 1900's. Material similar to this stone was mined and used for the foundations and exterior finishes on many of the buildings in downtown Minneapolis.
"The Quarry" retail center . . . — — Map (db m232204) HM
Which were used on parkways first, bicycles or cars?
The first vehicles to use the new parkways were horses and carriages, but bicycles soon followed. In 1887 the Park Board formally approved the use of bicycles on parkways, which fed . . . — — Map (db m164138) HM
Charles Ingebretsen came to the United States from Norway, working first in New York City as a dockhand, then as an apprentice meat cutter in Fargo. He arrived in Minneapolis around 1907 and entered the meat-selling business. He owned . . . — — Map (db m213245) HM
Ray Truelson, together with his father, Roy, opened drive-in restaurants throughout the Twin Cities, including a Porky's Drive-In at 2107 East Lake Street. The drive-in restaurant concept gained popularity after World War II as Americans . . . — — Map (db m134583) HM
In 1911, Axel Anderson established his lunchroom to serve railroad and streetcar workers employed at the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad yards, located just a few blocks to the north and at the Lake Street Station of the Twin . . . — — Map (db m134582) HM
In November 1882, Harriet Walker, a civic leader and health care advocate, summoned 44 women to lay plans for what would become Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children. It opened in a rented house at 2504 Fourth Avenue South, . . . — — Map (db m245213) HM
From 1880 to 1930, Minneapolis was the flour-milling capital of the United States, thanks in part to the abundance of wheat grown in farms dotting the state. Introduced by a Mendota fur trader around 1820, wheat quickly became Minnesota's . . . — — Map (db m213825) HM
Upon their arrival in the United States, many rural Greek immigrants demonstrated a preference for the city and its promise of a better life. Like other newcomers, they quickly established culturally supportive organizations. In 1909 a . . . — — Map (db m213679) HM
Norwegian immigrant sisters Pauline and Thomane Fjelde gained renown for winning a gold medal at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago for embroidering the first Minnesota State Flag, which was used until 1957. Pauline's . . . — — Map (db m234625) HM
New Products for New Consumers
During the 1920s, manufacturers and producers reached mass markets like never before. Newspaper, radio, and billboard advertising urged consumers to buy goods ranging from bread to automobiles. Mail-order . . . — — Map (db m236671) HM
The developers of the Minneapolis Street Railway Company gained control of the Saint Paul City Railway Company in 1885 and incorporated the Twin City Rapid Transit Company two years later. The routes of both systems were integrated over . . . — — Map (db m243249) HM
For longer distances, travelers could ride the "Motor Line"a hybrid of a horse car and train, propelled by a steam locomotive. Tracks extended from downtown Minneapolis to Lake Calhoun by 1879, and reached Excelsior by 1881. Four years . . . — — Map (db m245093) HM
This is the first horse car in the Twin Cities, July 15, 1872.
Credit: Minnesota Historical Society Collections
"The large 46-spot cars, built by the company in its own sheds, are of the most modern and . . . — — Map (db m245324) HM
Martin and Elizabeth Layman were typical of the transplanted Easterners who settled in Minnesota in the mid-1800s. They arrived in Minnesota in 1853, where they eventually settled with their children on a farm on the southern edge of the . . . — — Map (db m245596) HM
History of Lake Street
When the City of Minneapolis was established in 1856, Lake Street was a mile beyond the southern boundary of the city.
Early Lake Street was home to dance halls, lumberyards, churches, horsesheds, blacksmiths, . . . — — Map (db m213113) HM
New Goods for a New Era
The pace of life in Minneapolis quickened in the decade between 1910 and 1920. The population expanded from 301,498 to 3...82, and the ... factories, railroads, and ... nks m... it ... with a trade ... n stro... ng .. . . . — — Map (db m240652) HM
Infant Carlton Cressey was the first person to be buried here on September 11, 1853. Cressey's family knew the landowner, Martin Layman, and when the child died, Layman offered part of his farm as a burial site. Several more burials took . . . — — Map (db m245403) HM
Originally developed to be a stylish boulevard lined with architect-designed homes situated on large lots with generous setbacks, Park Avenue once ranked as Minneapolis' most prestigious residential street.
Throughout the late . . . — — Map (db m233946) HM
Automobiles led to the demise of the streetcar system. Ridership peaked in 1922 at about 226 million; a decade later that number had decreased by half.
In response to this trend, the company stopped running streetcars on the once busy . . . — — Map (db m245522) HM
The neighborhood is edged by Interstate 94 on the north, Interstate 35W on the west, Lake Street on the south, and Hiawatha, Cedar Avenue, and railroad tracks on the east.
The neighborhood's name honors Wendell Phillips, a . . . — — Map (db m231957) HM
The Chicago line reached 35th Street by 1890, 46th Street by 1904, 48th Street by 1922, and 54th Street by 1928. Each extension opened up new areas to development, making it easy for people to commute to jobs and go shopping. As historian . . . — — Map (db m240773) HM
Burma-Shave was introduced in 1925 by the Burma-Vita company, owned by Clinton Odell. The brushless shaving cream was advertised in an innovative way: small signs were posted along the edges of roadways, spaced for sequential reading by . . . — — Map (db m134584) HM
Opened in 1910, the Lake Street Station was one of six carhouses used by the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT) streetcar system that served Minneapolis and St. Paul. At its peak in 1920, TCRT had nearly 530 miles of track and 1,021 . . . — — Map (db m134460) HM
The James J. Ballentine Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 246 was founded in October 1919, in the aftermath of World War I. It was established with 50 charter members in memory of James J. Ballentine, a popular local boy. Born in . . . — — Map (db m239124) HM
Did you know that 'Washburn Fair Oaks' was originally the name of the mansion that once stood here?
One of the largest homes in Minneapolis in the 1880s, it was built by William D. Washburn. His brother Cadwallader Washburn founded the . . . — — Map (db m156784) HM
George N. Boosalis founded the Town Treat Cafι in 1940. Boosalis emigrated from Greece in 1914 at age 16, eventually landing in Minneapolis to join the growing number of Greeks working in the restaurant business. He started at his . . . — — Map (db m213171) HM
Did you know that Powderhorn Park has hosted U.S. Olympic speed skating race trials?
A beautiful setting and a pristine sheet of ice shaved smooth, in the early years by a horse-drawn blade, pushed Powderhorn Park to prominence in the world . . . — — Map (db m201355) HM
The Witch's Hat Water Tower was designed by Norwegian architect Frederick William Cappelen and constructed by the city of Minneapolis in 1913. Occupying the highest natural land area in Minneapolis, the water tower was built to improve water . . . — — Map (db m176758) HM
A Dakota word for "falling waters"
described Saint Anthony Falls, an untamed cascade extending form shore to shore until the mid-1800s. Major Thomas Forsyth visited the falls in 1819:
The complexity of the company's history reflects the transformation of the electric power industry since the late nineteenth century as smaller utilities were consolidated into larger ones.
Created in 2000 by the merger of Northern States . . . — — Map (db m235069) HM
In this 1928 photograph, men work on the horseshoe dam that extends from the trash sluice on which you stand. Hennepin History Museum
The first major attempt to tame the river was a rare collaboration . . . — — Map (db m240532) HM
The Saint Anthony Falls Water Power Company (SAFWPC) and the Minneapolis Mill Company (MMC) were chartered by the territorial legislature in 1856, two years before Minnesota achieved statehood. The companies were on the frontier of Americaand . . . — — Map (db m235347) HM
"Colonel Farquhar said to me that, in his opinion, only eternal vigilance would keep the falls in existence..."William de la BarreWater poured through the collapsed tunnel in 1869, undermining foundations of some . . . — — Map (db m230028) HM
"The astounding fact about Minneapolis in 198 is that men live there today who can remember when Minneapolis was not. Sixty years ago there was no Territory of Minnesota. These are matters for marvel as one sees this vast expanse . . . — — Map (db m243714) HM
By 1860 St. Anthony had become a favorite summer resort for wealthy southerners who traveled on steamboats up the Mississippi. Often they and their black slaves stayed at the Winslow House. One such slave was Eliza Winston. Slavery was illegal in . . . — — Map (db m42714) HM
This was the site from which Father Louis Hennepin, the Franciscan Priest, first viewed the Falls of St. Anthony in June of 1680. He named the falls after his patron saint St. Anthony of Padua.
The famous waterfall was responsible for the birth . . . — — Map (db m225467) HM
1882
Tunnel finished; 2 Victor turbines power the Pillsbury A Mill. Low water levels soon raise concerns about the reliability of waterpower
1884
Steam engine installed to supplement waterpowera move towards less . . . — — Map (db m243558) HM
1882
Tunnel finished; 2 Victor turbines power the Pillsbury A Mill. Low water levels soon raise concerns about the reliability of waterpower
1884
Steam engine installed to supplement waterpowera move towards less . . . — — Map (db m243531) HM
A young Pennsylvanian won the race to grab land at the Falls of St. Anthony after the area was opened to settlement in 1838. Franklin Steele, the sutler (civilian storekeeper) at Fort Snelling, staked his claim in a moonlight caper that beat out the . . . — — Map (db m155490) HM
"As you travel across this country you will notice the high steel towers, carrying slender copper wires in all directions, bearing in their veins that mysterious fluid that sets the wheels a moving, turns night into day, brings . . . — — Map (db m234157) HM
Lumbering was the first major industry at Saint Anthony Falls.Detail from Map of Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1885 Minneapolis Public Library Special Collections
In 1847, scouts . . . — — Map (db m241803) HM
William de la Barre, Report upon the Projected Addition to the Water Power at the Saint Anthony Falls at Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1894
The river . . . — — Map (db m239759) HM
Minneapolis boasted the nation's first central hydroelectric station.The mast carrying the arc lights towers above downtown on the company's letterhead.
As sawmills adopted steam power by the 1880s and . . . — — Map (db m238433) HM
In commemoration of the courageous French explorers whose discoveries inspired French settlement and anticipated the growth of the City of Minneapolis, this plaque was dedicated by His Excellency, Jacques Kosciusko-Morizet, Ambassador of France . . . — — Map (db m238142) HM
The Falls of St. Anthony is the only true waterfall on the 2,350-mile length of the Mississippi. It has eroded upriver many miles in the 12,000 years since humans first saw it. The falls then may have been as much as two miles wide and 200 feet . . . — — Map (db m238159) HM
Did you know that this park began as a power plant easement? A local amateur historian, Lucy Wilder Morris, convinced the St. Anthony Falls Water Power Company to grant an easement for a small park here in 1924. Lucy's interest in local . . . — — Map (db m155469) HM
The village of St. Anthony was platted in 1849, and by 1855 a number of frame buildings stood along Main Street. In that year brothers Moses and Rufus Upton constructed a fine business block from locally made brick and opened a store on the ground . . . — — Map (db m155483) HM
A natural spring flows from the rock at the base of Hennepin Bluff below this spot. According to tradition the iron-red mud at the spring provided pigment for Native Americans. White settlers of the 1850s believed the water had medicinal qualities. . . . — — Map (db m21033) HM
Has been designated a
Registered National
Historic Landmark
Under the provisions of the
Historic Sites Act of August 21, 1935
This site possesses exceptional value
in commemorating or illustrating
the History of the United States
U.S. . . . — — Map (db m95383) HM
For untold generations of Indian people the Mississippi River was an important canoe route. To pass around the falls, the Dakota (Sioux) and Ojibway (Chippewa) used a well-established portage trail. Starting at a landing below the site now occupied . . . — — Map (db m21032) HM
During the nineteenth century, mills at the falls were driven directly by waterpower. Sawmills were often on platforms built out over the river, where water drove machinery through systems of shafts, gears, and belts. In the flour mills, water was . . . — — Map (db m155494) HM
In 1860, Silas Farnham bought a sawmill on Hennepin Island that had been built four years earlier, and soon J.A. Lovejoy became his business partner. The long pond leading to their mill was a prominent landmark. Its west wall formed part of the . . . — — Map (db m235753) HM
The University of Minnesota's first building, a preparatory school, was located on this site from 1851 until the University moved to its present location in 1855.
When the city of Minneapolis acquired the land for a park in 1903, it was . . . — — Map (db m37825) HM
Long before farmers plowed Minnesota's western prairies, lumberjacks were felling pines in its northern forests. Beginning in the late 1840s, trees from Ojibway lands upriver were being cut into boards by sawmills at the Falls of St. Anthony. But . . . — — Map (db m155493) HM
Several structures have dominated the crest of the hill above this spot. The first was a luxury hotel named the Winslow House, built in 1857 by James M. Winslow while St. Anthony was still a favorite resort and health spa. Its style of . . . — — Map (db m50208) HM
Built in 1848, the Ard Godfrey House is the earliest frame house still standing in Minneapolis. An example of Greek Revival architecture, it originally occupied a site in the vicinity of Main and Second Streets Southeast.
Ard Godfrey, a . . . — — Map (db m37774) HM
Near this spot in 1630 Father Louis Hennepin first sighted and named the Falls of Saint Anthony.
This is the oldest standing church in the city of Minneapolis. The front rectangular nave, built of native limestone, was opened by the First . . . — — Map (db m238143) HM
Geology
The river flows over land, once a seabed, laid down 500 million years ago. The top layer, covered by soil left much later by glaciers, is hard Platteville limestone, which is up to 35 feet thick beneath much of . . . — — Map (db m243666) HM
Here at the Falls of St. Anthony, where waterpower, river transportation, and eventually railroads came together, the industrial heart of the upper Midwest began to beat in the mid-1800s. Keen-eyed factory and mill owners from the states of the . . . — — Map (db m155495) HM
The Pillsbury A Mill, built of Platteville limestone, was the worlds largest flour mill when it was completed in 1881. The design by LeRoy S. Buffington is considered a classic of industrial architecture, and the interior of the mill boasted . . . — — Map (db m40687) HM
Reaction turbines are used at Saint Anthony Falls. Water flows to, through, and out of a reaction turbine as a liquid column, tightly constrained and carefully directed to capture its force. The column starts at the penstock's intake, positioned . . . — — Map (db m234949) HM
In 1879 St. Paul railroad magnate James J. Hill opened his "Manitoba line" to the Canadian border, linking the wheat fields of the Red River Valley with the flour mills of Minneapolis. To improve railroad access at the falls he built this 2,100-foot . . . — — Map (db m21031) HM
"The falls are going out!" cried the alarmed citizens of St. Anthony on October 5, 1869. A tunnel being dug under the river bed to bring waterpower to Nicollet Island had collapsed. A giant whirlpool formed
below the island as the river rushed . . . — — Map (db m42741) HM
The CM&StP: A New Route to the West
The CM&StP Railroad's Short Line bridge across the Mississippi River, completed in 1880, was the first of three important bridges in the vicinity. In 1888, crossing at Franklin Avenue and Lake Street also . . . — — Map (db m200507) HM
By the 1960s, generations of heavy use had taken a toll on the houses. Fewer families remained. Many homes became rental properties for students and artists. As front porches were enclosed and deteriorated brick was covered with stucco, the area's . . . — — Map (db m151471) HM
Marked by this boulder brought from
the Mesabi Iron Range,
was named in honor of the eminent geologist
Newton Horace Winchell
whose scientific studies along this river
provided a measure for the time
since the glacial period.
His . . . — — Map (db m163240) HM
"I am now ready to supply the citizens of the Territory with Ale and Beer, which will be found equalyes, superiorto what is brought from below. I am now demonstrating that malt liquors of the very best quality can be manufactured in . . . — — Map (db m231999) HM
The Sheridan Veterans Memorial is in honor of all those who stepped forward to serve, a tribute to those whose lives were lost or forever altered, and a living reminder of our hope for a world with lasting peace.
State Representative Diane . . . — — Map (db m231905) HM WM
For 74 years this transit railway carried passengers to downtown jobs, to University of Minnesota classes, and to picnics and concerts on the shores of Lake Harriet.
Steam passenger trains of the Minneapolis, Lyndale & Minnetonka Railway first . . . — — Map (db m38850) HM
The continental glaciers spreading over Minnesota during the great ice ages brought vast quantities of rock material from the north to be dumped indiscriminately during the recession of the ice. Old river valleys were filled and belts of . . . — — Map (db m37863) HM
Do you know how many bandshells have been built at Lake Harriet?
Five, each built with a distinct style and features.
1888: The first bandshell was constructed by the Minneapolis Street Railway Company on their property near the rail . . . — — Map (db m211907) HM
Do you know how many bandshells have been built at Lake Harriet? Five, each built with a distinct style and features.
1888: The first bandshell was constructed by
the Minneapolis Street Railway Company on their property near the rail line. . . . — — Map (db m86816) HM
During its approach through a blinding snowstorm, NWA Flight 307 clipped its left wing on the flagpole at Ft. Snelling Cemetery. Captain Donald Jones struggled to maintain altitude as he circled around for another attempt. The wing detached . . . — — Map (db m56011) HM
1. E. C. Stakman's (second from right) work in plant pathology drew scholars from around the world
2. Nobel Peace Prize winnter Norman Borlaug, Ph.D. '42, in Mexico
3. U of M delegation arrives in Seoul, South Korea, to assist with . . . — — Map (db m238021) HM
1 Arthur Naftalin, mayor of Minneapolis, 1961-69
2 Exuberant Minnesota crowd hails Hubert H. Humphrey after the 1948 Democratic National Convention
3 Roy Wilkins, B.A. '23 and former executive director of the NAACP
4 Hubert and . . . — — Map (db m237055) HM
Beginnings
The University of Minnesota created the Medical School in 1888. In 1892, classes were offered in Medical Hall (now Wulling Hall) on Pleasant Street. By the turn of the century, dentistry and pharmacy had become colleges in their . . . — — Map (db m156961) HM
The Knoll (18861907)
The oldest University of Minnesota buildings are on the north end of campus. They were built facing an open area with a knoll. This area stretched from the Pillsbury Gate, on the corner of University Avenue and East . . . — — Map (db m156840) HM
A Gathering Place
In a nation still gripped by the Depression, the lavish new union on the University of Minnesota campus attracted national attention. The building was much needed, but a long time in coming. Although there had been . . . — — Map (db m156834) HM
Scholarship and Public Service
Not long after the University of Minnesota first opened its doors, it began offering courses for part-time students. By 1884, adults in the community could study literature and language, biology, physical and . . . — — Map (db m156787) HM
1 Electrical engineering professor C.M. Janskey (right) and student John K. Hilliard operated the University's broadcasting and public-address systems, 1926
2 Electrical engineering department radio display at State Fair, . . . — — Map (db m232013) HM
1. David Kiehle, 1899
2. Burton Hall, home to the College of Education since 1926
3. Two classes at oncesymbiotic learning in a demonstration class, Tuttle School, 1939
4. Ruth Eckert, researcher in higher education and the . . . — — Map (db m238331) HM
1. Aerial photo of the West Bank before Professor Sibley's intervention, 1965
2. View of the grove shortly after the planting of trees, ca. 1971
3. Mulford Q. Sibley Grove, ca. 2018
4. Mulford Q. Sibley, . . . — — Map (db m233009) HM
From time immemorial, Indians, Traders and Explorers
among whom were Hennepin and Carver have used the
Mississippi river as a highway of travel, unloading
their canoes at the bend just below here. They
plodded up the portage trail across what is . . . — — Map (db m140044) HM
Founding Principles
The University of Minnesota was chartered in 1851 on the principle of broad access to education. Yet, for much of the University's history the advantages of higher education were out of reach for many. Economic, . . . — — Map (db m156522) HM
A Unique Collaboration
Alone among the nation's major research institutions, the University of Minnesota is home to a single college that spans engineering, mathematics, and physical sciences.
Designed to promote interdisciplinary . . . — — Map (db m156511) HM
The Armory Building
The University of Minnesota opened in 1869, assisted by federal subsidies and with military instruction mandated by the Land Grant Act of 1862. Since 1884, the buildings used for military instruction have met additional . . . — — Map (db m176660) HM
From the Beginning
The liberal arts were established at the University of Minnesota in 1869 as the College of Science, Literature, and the Arts. A faculty of nine taught English, mathematics, philosophy, military science, agriculture, . . . — — Map (db m156701) HM
1 View of the first Washington Avenue Bridge, with streetcars in use, 1940
2 O. Meredith Wilson breaks ground for the West Bank campus
3 Construction under way on the West Bank
4 Crossing the river: the . . . — — Map (db m232012) HM
Twelfth Regiment.
Lind, John 1st Lieut. and Regimental Quartermaster. · Gunz, N. Abe Hosp. Stew'd. · Kendall, W.J. Hosp. Stew'd.
Co A: Boock, Albert D. Musician. · McKittrick, James Corp.
Co B: Brand, John S. Serg.
Co . . . — — Map (db m245674) WM
Josephine Tilden
When Josephine Tilden completed her B.S. degree at the University of Minnesota in 1895, she had already published five papers on Minnesota algae. Tilden gained world renown as an authority on algar, specializing in the . . . — — Map (db m156498) HM
